The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1887-07-28
SHALL WE VOTE To pay ON THE
GRADED school EsTIoN

/
MesSrS Editors FL do pot propose Il
reply to the above qnest9a Hhieh hai
often been asked. but sliio wing loca
taken from one of our ers seems t.
demand that should ex bin Why I vii
not vote. and still claim MOI e. be il
favor of Ignorance" ~
The man who remaiIA Way from tHt
polls and fails to vote fol the Graded
School next Thursday ssz ~ his action
that he is in favor of the door iiidren
of Asheville growing Nerapee
Lekeverybody vote ior h5lQl, and
thus help 10 elevate tt lettl
and moral standip g q lspereas
and growing
OnsR question IlYDlv iiserence 81
Eopinibn, such bore are
not fair but are to Induce
men to refrain ffcI sing theif
honest views
Ef i hope no one " oIeeils
Threatens our
evil Which now d Ion Il ~ = ~ =
ne sds exeeas ~
feel it nay duty to warn all lhy frieres
A few simple 1iEutes viii show this:
AS one. Of the assessors of this township,
| found myself eoTnpelleE to- raise the
az jessed value. of property, 50 that now,
withilisthe Gity, it viii reach probably
81 O0d, 900 " fSstr milton. dollars, on
which, mthis proposal is adopted, we
must pay about 'S6, ,hg6, and an additional
poll tax of about $500, making about
81, 900 tax, in aldition fs cha already:
necessary. IF to prevent ignorance" Is
is required we should so bnHs3en our
selves, by all means let us deik; but
cannot see that such isz tlleease. Fer
from our new assessment, " e. viii pro-
badly have a county school tax of 12Y
cents on about ($7 600, ,000) seven million
dollars, amounting to about SIS, $50 and a
poll tax for school purposes of about
$4,000, making nearly $4,000, which
think enough TO educate our poor children
and others should educate themselves.
The evil, of excessively heavy tax,
stares US in the face this year more than
ever before, and let us be slow to act so as
not 20 increase our burdens. Who ought
to vote for this tax? Should the white
men? answer no. because it IS unjust
to impose a heavy tax on them, when a
large proportion goes to educat, the col
ored children, whose parents hardly pay
anV of the tax.
Should the colored men vote for it :?
No, because it can neverbe to their in
terest to impose a burden on the white
people, on whom they depend for most
of their employment. The intelligent
colored man knows that he gets more
than his legitimate proportion of the
State school lax, and this should satisfy
him. Moreover he cannot impose a
burden on his white neighbor without
putting on himselfa tax, which although
light in comparison, is heavy when con-
sidering his small means. Besides can
hardly believe the laboring colored men
are willing to increase even their poll
tax to improve the condition of the few
colored teachers amongst us, especially
when these teachers now get enough to
educate the colored children in all Eng
lish branches. My advice to them is to
send their children to school and reap
their filll-shAro of t4se tax-I 0TfCfed DY
the State, but do not increase the already
heavy tax both on themselves and their
employers for which there can be no
necessity whatever.
For the reasons l have tried to set
forth above IsltGu not cote, and hope
large majority of the registered voters
will proceed with their ordinary work,
and stay away from the polls.
Very respectfully.
I. w. PATTON.